A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1120 Vassal
This night,
In Gongyue City on the banks of Sihun River at Cheling Mountain, fire burned all night and killing continued all night.

At first, the Tang army used the magic mine to blast the earthen wall of Gongyue City, blew open a gap and raided into the city, catching the Gongyue people off guard. Then the Turkic and other Western Turkic auxiliary troops entered the city.

They fought in the city.

Ji Jinyuzhi of the Gongyue tribe fought desperately and died in battle.

The fighting spirit of the Gongyue people was destroyed and they began to flee. The supporting troops started a one-sided massacre. The Tang cavalry blocked three sides of Gongyue City, leaving only one side open.

The Turks killed people in the city without mercy.
Countless Gongyue people were running around like headless flies in the dark night, and finally found the open gap, and tried their best to squeeze into the west gate. The Turks ambushed and intercepted them near the west gate, killing them without mercy. The corpses of the Gongyue people were scattered all over the ground, piled up layer by layer.

The Tuqishi Jijin who led the auxiliary army seemed to be a little reluctant.

He ordered that anyone who escaped through the west gate would be disregarded.

They only cleared out the remaining enemies in the city.
If you surrender your weapons, you will be spared death; if you surrender your weapons, you will not be killed.

When the Gongyue people in the city finally collapsed in despair and lost their fighting spirit, many of them chose to surrender.

The fighting slowly died down, leaving only sporadic resistance.

The passage at the west gate had long since become a death trap.

The victorious Turks and their allies had their hands weary from chopping, but their eyes were red. When they became the victors, they did not show mercy to those who surrendered.
Instead, traditional activities were carried out.
Looting, raping, burning,

Indulge yourself to your heart's content,
Gongyue City was a must-pass place on the Silk Road and an important commercial town with many shops and warehouses. There were not only Gongyue people in the city, but also many Sogdians who traveled along the Silk Road, as well as a large amount of commercial goods.

Although these merchants passing by or doing business here all closed their doors and stayed at home when the war started,

But the victorious auxiliary army had no intention of letting them go. They went from house to house in groups of three or five, robbing any good thing they saw and killing anyone who refused to give it to them. They even pounced on women immediately.
There were screams and wails everywhere.

The once prosperous and bustling Silk Road town has now become a hell on earth in the dark night.

outside the city,

The Tang cavalry surrounded three gates and one.

The Gongyue people who had finally escaped from the West City did not get away. Cheng Yaojin had already arranged a group of elite cavalry to ambush them and chase them down.

Only surrender can save you from death.

"General, those auxiliary troops are burning, killing and looting everywhere in the city," a general reminded the indifferent Cheng Yaojin.

"Should we hurry into the city and take over Gongyue City?"

"General?"

Old Cheng looked at the burning Gongyue City with an expressionless face.

"Send a man into the city to find the running bull, and ask him to restrain his troops and forbid looting. Let them take the prisoners and hand them over at dawn."

The running bull is Amubuzai from the Turgesh tribe in the city. His name originally means running bull, and he looks like the strong Gongnian. He is the son of Heluo Shichuo from the Turgesh tribe and serves as the captain of the guard beside Yugushe. In fact, he is also a hostage.

"General, Amubuzai may not obey orders. Let's lead the army directly into the city."

Cheng Yaojin yawned, "It's dark in the middle of the night, and there's a lot of noise everywhere. Why are you in such a hurry to get into the city? Go and pass on the message."

Under the puzzled gazes of several officers, Lao Cheng issued another order, ordering the Tang cavalry to surround Gongyue City on all sides.

Never let a fly fly out of town again.

All is waiting for dawn.

A captain said that the Turks and their allies would commit countless murders that night, and by dawn, everyone in the city would be killed and looted.

But after hearing this, Old Cheng still looked the same.

The Tang army surrounded Gongyue City and was ready for battle at any time.

When dawn finally came,
Cheng Yaojin also had a leisurely breakfast outside the city.
Traditional battlefield food, horse meat stew.

The taste is just average, but it's still nice to eat stewed horse meat on the battlefield.

Old Cheng was not picky. He had a hearty meal of horse meat, then gathered his men and horses and entered the city.

There was chaos in the city overnight.
It's not over yet when the day breaks.

There were corpses scattered all over the ground, many houses and shops were burned down, and many places were still burning. Only some residents in the city were trying to put out the fire.
The Turks are still looting,

Some people grabbed the wine and drank it recklessly, and even roasted mutton and camel meat.

From time to time, you can hear women struggling and screaming from houses on the street.

This is nothing but hell on earth.

The Tang army generals all looked gloomy when they saw this.

Cheng Yaojin looked at the messy auxiliary troops and said to the people around him, "I heard that Gaochang and Yu Gushe jointly attacked five cities of Yanqi, and they burned, killed and looted when the cities were captured.

"The Western Turks who attacked and looted the five cities of Yanqi should have included these people, right?"

"Where's the bull? Call him over."

Cheng Yaojin stopped inside the west gate and climbed up to the top of the city wall step by step.

When he climbed to the top of the west gate, three thousand Tang cavalry also entered the city one after another and quickly took over the four city gates.

The bull fought till almost dawn last night,

In the second half of the night, the situation was settled, so he took his personal soldiers to occupy the city lord's mansion without hesitation. After looting it wantonly, he unceremoniously picked a few beautiful women and enjoyed them.
Afterwards, he ate a lot and then fell into a deep sleep.

Cheng Yaojin sent someone to call him, but he was still sleeping soundly.

His guards were unwilling to wake him up.

When Cheng Yaojin heard the reply from his personal soldiers, he did not get angry but laughed instead.

"This bull is really a bull," said Old Cheng. "Since he doesn't want to come, go and invite him again. If he still refuses to come, chop off his head and bring it to me."

A group of Tang cavalry went straight to the city lord's mansion.

It was the same captain of the Turkic guards who tried to stop them and disturbed the young patriarch, but the next moment, he was beheaded by a knife.

Amubuzai was awakened from his sleep.

He opened his eyes, only to see several spears pointed at him.

He rubbed his eyes and asked, "What are you doing?" Bull was a little annoyed. Their auxiliary army had made great contributions last night. The Tang army was just destroying the bridge after crossing it. Wasn't this just abandoning the enemy after their death?
"The deputy chief steward is calling you to come,"

Amubuzai was now awake, mumbling something, shaking his dizzy head, and quickly got up, dressed, and went to the west gate tower.
Along the way, he ignored the still chaotic streets and the chaotic soldiers under his command. After breaking into the city, he let the soldiers go for three days, which was considered a tradition.

The Bulls didn't see any problem with this at all.
He came to the west gate in a carefree manner.

Then we climbed up to the city gate tower,
Cheng Yaojin was wearing a Ming Guang armor, standing there majestically. The top of the city was full of Tang troops. His men were driven down, and the flags on the top of the city were replaced with Tang cavalry.

"The bull,"

Old Cheng shouted at him coldly, "Before attacking the city, did I, Old Cheng, explain the military discipline to you?"

"Last night, could I have sent someone into the city to have them restrain the troops?"

Cheng Yaojin's eyes were like knives, his expression was serious, and his voice was cold. "The Tang Dynasty is marching west to carry out the punishment of heaven. We are the army of kings. The military discipline is strict. It is forbidden to kill prisoners, and we are not allowed to rape or plunder."

Amubuzai stood there, but didn't care. "The boys fought hard last night, risking their lives, and suffered heavy casualties. After the victory, we should let the boys vent their anger. This is a traditional practice."

"Tradition, whose tradition? Who do you think you are now? You are now the auxiliary troops of my Great Tang's Western Expedition Army. You are part of my Tang Army and must obey my Great Tang's military orders and follow my Great Tang's military laws.

Even if we uphold traditions, we are upholding the traditions of our Tang Dynasty."

The Bull was stunned.

Then the bull got angry and asked, "Is the deputy chief steward going to punish me?"

He stiffened his neck and said, "We fought a bloody battle all night last night to capture Gongyue City for Tian Khan. Hundreds of our three thousand Turkic brothers were killed or wounded, and countless others were injured. We have made such a great contribution, but the deputy chief steward wants to find fault with us, cause trouble for us, and punish us?

Could this be the tradition of the Tang Dynasty?"

Cheng Yaojin smiled and said, "Do you think I won't kill you just because you are the son of Tuqishi Dachuo Heluoshi?"

"I have made contributions, why do you want to kill me?"

Old Cheng laughed angrily, "You bastard, you dare to confront me? I will chop you off today to enforce military law."

The atmosphere was somewhat tense.

At this time, several Tang generals came out to plead for Amubuzai.

"Considering that they are first-time offenders, they can atone for their sins."

"Okay, considering that the generals are begging for you, and that this is your first offense, I can forgive you this time."

Old Cheng stared at the bull. "Now, you immediately lead your men to put an end to this chaos and round up your people."

"I'll give you half an hour to take your people out of Gongyue City and set up camp outside the city."

"In half an hour, I will send soldiers to patrol the city. Anyone who is still looting in the city will be executed on the spot without mercy!"

Gong Niu looked unhappy and indignant. He felt that he was a hero but was being treated so unfairly. The Tang people were discriminating against them on purpose.

"You can let your soldiers plunder last night without any investigation, and your soldiers can let them plunder without any investigation, but you must turn in all the money and materials you have looted, and the same applies to women and livestock.
Anyone who dares to hide the spoils can't blame me for being ruthless."

Old Cheng's words made the Bull even more dissatisfied. He swelled his face and said, "We deserve those. We can withdraw from the city now, but how can we give back what we have obtained?"

"Are you going to disobey military orders again?"

"I'll give you 30%," Bull bargained indignantly, willing to give 30% to Tang Jun.

"You bargained with me?"

"Forty percent, forty-six," the Bull gritted his teeth.

Cheng Yaojin laughed loudly, and a group of officers nearby couldn't help but laugh. This bull was really interesting.

"Fifty-fifty, half and half, that's fine. We conquered the city and robbed the things. Now I'll give you half. Isn't that enough?"

"Get out," Cheng Yaojin pointed at him and shouted, "Take your people out of the city, and leave all your belongings behind. Anyone who dares to hide a single cent will be killed!"

Amubuzai's face was uncertain.
Cheng Yaojin looked at the city still in chaos and said, "Your merits are your merits, your faults are your faults. I have given you one chance, so you must cherish it. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless in military law."

The bull turned around with a dark face and left angrily.

Cheng Yaojin looked at his back and just sneered twice.

"General, what if they refuse to obey orders?"

"Didn't I just tell you that military law will be enforced?"

"Do you really want to take action?"

"I've said what I need to say. If they insist on running into the edge of the knife, who can they blame?"

Having said that, the colonels always felt that Deputy Chief Steward Cheng seemed to be deliberately pushing the Bull into a dead end.

If the Tang army had entered the city directly last night, this would not have happened today.

Now these Western Turks have looted a lot of property. Who would be willing to give it all back if we ask them to?
Could it be that General Cheng did it on purpose, deliberately letting the Turgesh people rob Gongyue City first, and then forcing the Turgesh people to hand over the looted property, so that the Tang army would not be accused of looting, but would still get a large amount of wealth in Gongyue City.

As for whether the Tang army would return the wealth to the Gongyue people after obtaining it, this was impossible.

It's not like the Tang army robbed the Gongyue people of their property, so why should they ask them to return it?

(End of this chapter)